Disney's The Lion King announces plans to reopen in the West End in Spring 2021

The show's sell-out UK tour also announces Manchester season will move to March 2021.

Disney Theatrical Productions, the producers of the hit musical The Lion King in the West End and around the world, announced today on social media that all performances of the West End production would be suspended through to Spring 2021. Simultaneously, they announced that the Manchester season of the UK tour, due to begin in October, would be rescheduled to March 2021

This announcement adds The Lion King, one of the West End's longest-running and most-successful productions, to list of shows extending their Covid shutdowns well in 2021.

In the statement, the production said, "We appreciate this change will cause disappointment and we very much look forward to seeing The Lion King roar back on to UK stages in the spring".

Following its Broadway premiere in 1997, Disney's revolutionary stage musical of The Lion King has played in cities around the world and been seen by over 100 million people. In 2019 Forbes reported it had achieved a cumulative worldwide gross of $9.1 billion, making it the highest-grossing entertainment property of all time.

The Lion King opened at London's Lyceum Theatre in October 1999, celebrating its 20th anniversary last year. It is the 5th longest running West End musical of all time. At the time of the shutdown, the production starred George Asprey as Scar, Shaun Escoffery as Mufasa, and Gugwana Dlamini as Rafiki. 

The UK tour of The Lion King, its second tour in the UK, opened in Bristol in September 2019, and was playing a lengthy season in Edinburgh at the time of the March shutdown. Future dates in Bradford, Cardiff, and Southampton have already been rescheduled to 2022.

In April, The Lion King is expected to be joined in the West End by Disney's Frozen The Musical, which will open at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. This will mean Disney will have three musicals playing simultaneously in the market. Disney is the co-producer of Mary Poppins, which is due to continue its run at the Prince Edward Theatre.